Can't I think of a title later? Please?
by Roxie Seine
Summary: Well, this is part of a really really old story -Which amazingly has helped me with a million other stories since
1. Default Chapter

Okay, if this sucks, well hey, I wrote it when I was about 11 or so, okay?? Gimme a break. I'm just letting my inner child out to play, so to speak.  
  
Hickok came riding in at a faster than usual pace, considering he had no mail, and no rides that day to hurry back for. It wasn't until he'd passed the stable that they saw he wasn't alone, and not until he eased the horse to a trotting stop in front of the bunkhouse, that it was plain to see just what he had saddled behind him.  
  
Rachel came running from the house, a dish towel in hand, her blonde hair astray, at just about the same time the gang came out from the bunks and the corral.  
  
"I was a good ten or so miles from town, off trail a bit," he confessed, "when I found this," he jerked his head begrudgingly at the form behind him.  
  
His finding was a spindly girl, so small it was easy to understand why no one had seen she was behind Jimmy until he was nearly to the house. Her blonde hair was full of tousled tight ringlets that were dusty and wind whipped, her face lined with dirt and bloodied. Her blue dress was long, but worn, her hands and bare feet were bound with rope, and she was tied down to the saddle.  
  
Noah whistled and laughed. "So Jimmy, couldn't handle her, huh? Seen baby cats that looked tougher!"  
  
The girl glared at him then and he stopped laughing.  
  
Jimmy thrust a handkerchief-bandaged hand forward. "I save her life and this is how she thanks me!"  
  
Lou came forward from the group and smiled kindly up at the girl.  
  
"Jimmy, get her down from there! Untie her!"  
  
Rachel stepped up then siding with Lou. "Land sakes Jimmy, what made you think to do that?""  
  
Lou grabbed a knife from her pocket and began cutting the ropes to the saddle off.  
  
Jimmy shrugged and answered slowly, in response to Lou's freeing the girl, "She'll run off."  
  
"To where?" Teaspoon held his arms out wide. "There ain't nowhere to run 'round here! Nothing at all but grass an some trees! Run," he scoffed and spat at the ground. "Oughta be ashamed o' yerself Hickock! Hog tying a drunk'd be harder 'n handling that un there."  
  
Buck was helping the girl, still bound, down from the horse when Rachel interrupted.  
  
"An' it seems to me you all ought to remember your manners. I believe it's still proper to introduce yourselves to a lady," she smiled at the girl, who gave her an empty stare in response. She looked hard at the group, who shifted their weight sheepishly at the reproach.  
  
Noah tipped his hat. "I'm Noah, pleased to meet you."  
  
Cody grinned and managed an extravagant bow. "Cody, ma'am."  
  
Giving a quick nod, the Kid smiled. "I'm Kid," he motioned to Lou, "an' this here's Lou."  
  
"Thank you," she smiled, "but I can introduce myself." She grinned again and winked at the girl.  
  
The girl stared hard at Lou for a moment as though confused.  
  
Buck had taken up Jimmy's reins, holding the horse for him while he swung down.  
  
"Buck," he nodded, then gave the reins over to Jimmy and stepped to Ike. "This is Ike."  
  
The child-like young man grinned widely, as if eager and used to entertaining children. He gestured with his hands, and like magic a daisy appeared from a closed fist. Then seeing she couldn't take it from him, he clumsily placed it behind her ear, smiling at the effect.  
  
The girl seemed fascinated and on the verge of smiling in delight, but managed to compose herself.  
  
"Well, now that that's all done with," he tipped his hat t the girl, "I'm Teaspoon by the way- we can hear who you are, and why Jimmy here decided he needed to snatch you up from where evers you was at."  
  
Lou bent down to cut the girl's feet free, ignoring Jimmy's repeated warning, "She'll run away."  
  
And the instant her feet were free, she rushed to Teaspoon and kicked him in the shins.  
  
"Blast it!" He swore stomping his free leg, and catching up his hurt one with his hand. "She's a regular hell fire! What in blazes did you bring her here for, Hickok? We don't need no more trouble!"  
  
"Well, at least she didn't run," Lou answered smiling at Jimmy.  
  
She put a hand to the girls' shoulders, deciding not to undo her hands just yet.  
  
Instantly the girl backed away from her as though bitten.  
  
Rachel laughed lightly, and took the girl by the shoulders instead. "You forget yourself sometimes, Lou," she smiled nodding towards her boyish attire. Then she looked at the little girl. "How'd you like to come up to the house an' freshen up a bit honey?"  
  
"Best keep her hands bound," Jimmy offered, "you'd be better off that way."  
  
Seeming not to hear him, Rachel herded the girl off to the main house. 


	2. 2

"So," Teaspoon leaned back in his chair, chewing on a blade of grass, "would you mind telling all of us just what the hell happened out there? You go off for a ride, an' you come back with a kid."  
  
Jimmy pushed his chair back, and put his arms on the table.  
  
Saw her a ways out of Sweetwater, right off in the prairie grass. Figured no town girl'd be that far off from home, playin' out in the prairie. So I ride up, an see she's got a satchel with her an' that's about it."  
  
"Ain't no cause to kidnap her, Jimmy," Lou said quietly.  
  
"I asked her where her folks were at-"  
  
"And?" Kid asked.  
  
Jimmy looked around for Rachel, and leaned closer to the group. "Said burnin' up in hell for all she cared. Course that was a good while after I caught up with her- an' had to tackle her down at that."  
  
Lou's eyebrows raised and she whistled low. "Well now ain't that something."  
  
"And you decided to take her on as your pet?" Buck asked.  
  
"Well I couldn't leave her there. It was clear she wasn't just some girl playin' house, or anything like that. How'd she survive out on her own?"  
  
"I did," Lou's voice was soft, not condescending, just stating a fact. "Didn't hear the part where she asked you to save her either."  
  
"From the looks of it," Noah spoke up, "the way you brought her in here, looks to me like you had a time convincing her she needed to be saved."  
  
Jimmy stood up from the table, furious, but trying not to let his anger get the better of him. "She ain't you Lou, she may be able to run and put in a few scratches, but how's she gonna live? Huh? A girl her age?"  
  
"She could get hired out to work in a house in town-"  
  
"And looks about as likely to last at that as you would!"  
  
"Hickok!" Teaspoon's voice brought Jimmy back behind a safe line.  
  
"Point is, she's here now, an' we got to figure out what to do with her." He looked over at Louise. "An' he's got a point there, Lou, she ain't you. Don't think she woulda lasted long if Hickok hadn't intervened." He glanced at the seat Hickok'd vacated. "Sit down Jimmy, ain't done with you yet."  
  
He obeyed and sat back down, reluctantly.  
  
"Now what else did that girl say to you when you came up on her? I'm sure she didn't just see you and run."  
  
Kid laughed, and poked Jimmy in the side. "If she knew him she mighta!"  
  
The whole group laughed loudly.  
  
Jimmy glared at them until they quieted down.  
  
"Actually," he looked at Kid, "she did. Seemed to me like she musta thought someone'd be after her, thought I was the one sent to fetch her back."  
  
"What makes you think that?" Cody asked.  
  
"Who runs unless they got them something to run from?" He countered.  
  
Cody held up his hands and was silent.  
  
"Now, let's just finish primpin' you up. You come up right perty, you know that? Came in here lookin' more like a roughed up prarie dog than a little girl."  
  
Rachel had been going on with this one sided conversation since she brought the girl inside, and seemed content to keep on with it.  
  
"It's been so long since I've had anyone to care for, never had a little one o' my own. I think I'll just have to let you be my doll for a while, that suit you?"  
  
The first thing Rachel'd done once they came into the station house was put on a kettle and several pots for hot water, then stoked the fire till it was roaring, and walked the girl upstairs.  
  
"What's your name honey?" She'd asked.  
  
No response.  
  
"Where are you from? Where are your folks at?"  
  
NO answer.  
  
She sat the girl down on the bed in the old spare room and faced her.  
  
"Well, if you ain't gonna talk, that's just fine. Might be your mouth's gotten you into trouble a time or two, might not be. But if you ain't gonna talk, you're gonna listen, an' that's just fine with me."  
  
"First thing we gotta do is get you cleaned up. Wash those feet, air out that dress, ain't got the time to clean it proper, it's dusty is all, just air it out the window there. And we've got to do something with that mess of hair you got."  
  
She moved to the door to go check the water, then remembered what Hickok had warned about her. "Now you just stay put, you hear? Ain't nowhere for you to go, an' I'd see you if ya did. Stay put an' I'll bring up that water and some wash tubs."  
  
And that's exactly what she did, and was only slightly surprised to see the girl still seated motionless on the bed when she returned.  
  
She set down a small wash tin at the girls' feet and filled it with hot water from the ketle.  
  
"Set your feet in there and get them clean first, otherwise they'll just dirty up all that water when you wash the rest."  
  
Wordlessly she picked her feet up and placed them in tin of water and wiggled them around.  
  
Rachel rolled her eyes and grabbed a panikin of soap.  
  
"Soap," she announced and shoved it to her.  
  
The girl gave her a stare that was almost mocking, and Rachel remembered the girl's hands were still bound.  
  
She pursed her lips, and took out a pocket knife from her apron pocket. The girl seemed surprised at that, but said nothing.  
  
"Now, you'd best behave yourself and not try anything. Like I said before you ain't gonna get nowhere. And I'm trying to be nice, so you'd best act like a lady and appreciate it."  
  
She cut off the ropes and handed her the soap.  
  
"Wash," she instructed. "Wash your feet in 'at one," wash yerself in that one," she pointed to a larger tin wash tub used for dishes, "and you'll wash your hair an' face in those last two. It's gonna be a process, that's for sure." Rachel started for the door, then thought better of it.  
  
"Well, I'll bring in a privacy screen from my room here, and bring in some towels. I'll air out your dress while you're washing too. Then I'll be started with dinner for the boys." With that she left the room.  
  
Teaspoon and the gang were already seated at the table talking when Rachel lead the girl back downstairs.  
  
Jimmy lept up from his chair at the sight and slammed his fist on the table.  
  
"I told you not to untie her!"  
  
"You said no such thing," Rachel answered, without skipping a beat, "you just said you thought she'd run away."  
  
"She will!"  
  
Cody laughed. "Not if she's smart, when there's about to be food on the table!"  
  
Rachel nodded. "There, you see? Plus we have a house full of grown, or at least mostly, grown men. Where do you think she'll go?"  
  
Without waiting for an answer Rachel nugded the girl towards an empty chair at the end of the table. "You just have a seat right there, and I'll bring in supper."  
  
"Well that sounds good Rachel," Kid called out, " I could just about eat a horse!"  
  
Lou smiled. "Take your pick, there's a whole lot of em just outside."  
  
Kid's face redened and he gave her a sidelong glance.  
  
Looking at the floor the whole time, she made her way to the table and sat, folding her hands in her lap to give herself something new to look at.  
  
Teaspoon let out a long whistle. "Well looks like she cleans up real nice Rachel," his voice pitched to carry back to the kitchen where Rachel was spooning potatoes into a bowl. "Ya did a good job with her. And," he nodded at Jimmy, "she didn't run off, so maybe we'll get company to stay for a while."  
  
Rachel came in with the bowl of potatoes, and a plate of meat. She set them both down and excused herself, "I've got the gravy heating on the stove, I'll just be a minute."  
  
Cody motioned to the food and smiled. "Ladies first."  
  
The girl glanced at him, at the food, then in the direction Rachel had gone in, then sat back and crossed her arms over her chest.  
  
Lou laughed. "Looks like she's got more manners n' you, Cody!"  
  
"Yup," Teaspoon added, "gotta wait till everyone's seated. But I will tell you," he looked directly at the girl, "once food's on the table with this bunch it's every man, or lady," he added as Rachel came back in, placed the gravy on the table and sat, "for themselves. First come, first served, if you know what I mean."  
  
A silent stare was his only response.  
  
"Well," Rachel began, "dig in boys."  
  
No one moved, in response to Cody's earlier statement.  
  
"Well fine then," she smiled, " I guess I'll get the first pickings." She grabbed the girl's plate heaped food on it that'd last for a week, spooned up her own food. She started to reach for Lou's plate, but she shook her head with a small jerk, and Rachel sat back down.  
  
Lou smiled trying her best not to laugh. "thank you Ma'am," she murmered, "just the same."  
  
"Alright, now you all can dig in!" rachel laughed.  
  
Once they'd all started in on their meal, Teaspoon spoke up again.  
  
"Now, Miss," he pointed to her with his spoon, "we've got to figure out at least something about you. If you hadn't said to Mr. Hickok here that yer folks should burn in the blazes of hell fire, I'd be inclinded to think you couldn't talk at all. I'd think we could at least learn your name, if n you ain't fond of telling us where you're from and how you got to be here."  
  
She spooned potatoes into her mouth as if she'd been starved, but said nothing.  
  
"Well," he comforted himself with adding, "at least she's civilized herself some. Looks quite nice if I do say so myself."  
  
The girl was seated across from Buck, who took one look into her dark eyes, glanced at her clentched jaw and announced calmly, "Well, she might feel more obliged to talkin' if the folk around her didn't speak as though she were some wild horse you're trying to break."  
  
"Well hell Buck, what are we supposed to say? She won't talk, she'll barely look at you, I'm more inclined to think she's a wild bager than a girl, from what Jimmy says, an' so far sha ain't said nothing to make me think different."  
  
"Didn't see her askin' to be here," Lou reminded him.  
  
"If you all don't mind," Cody interuppted, "I am trying to eat a meal. Arguing is not good for the digestion."  
  
Kid laughed aloud. "Well, look at you Doctor Cody- spouted some sense finally!"  
  
"Trying to show off for the young lady, is more like it," Rachel said winking at her.  
  
"All I'm trying to say is she could at least tell where she's tryin' to get to, before Hickok here hog tied her, an' who she is. Cuz the way I sees it she ain't gonna get anywheres from here without our help."  
  
"Don't look to me like she was getting' too far in the first place," Jimmy mumbled.  
  
"Let the girl alone, would you?" Rachel looked around the table. "Last thing she needs is a bunch of strangers asking her all sorts of things they ain't got a mind to know on. Leave her be."  
  
The last sentence was so stern, her gaze so formidable, no one said a word for the rest of the meal.  
  
Through out the meal, the girl busied herself between bites staring alternatly at the people around her. Her eyes rested on a person while they were engrossed in eating and unaware of her gaze. She seemed to size them up, then move onto the next person at table. That finished she went back and forth fixing her eyes on Ike and then Lou. She looked at Ike with a form of child like admiration, and then squinted her eyes and looked at Lou, curious and obviously in wonderment about something.  
  
When she finished the food on her plate and her cup of water, she sighed and looked steadily at Buck who was in front of her. She stared at his unwavering gaze until her eyes blinked heavy and repeatedly. She rubbed a fist at them once, then yawned and stood up. Backing away from the table, with one last look at the group, she pushed in her chair, walked out of the room and went upstairs.  
  
There was silence until they all heard the guest room door close tight.  
  
Rachel finished up her coffee and nodded at Lou, speaking low. "I think you might wanna have a talk with her- even if she don't talk back," she finished.  
  
Lou was playing with the last bit of potato on her plate. She looked up at Rachel.  
  
"What for?"  
  
Jimmy smiled and answered slow, "I think she's figured you out, Louise."  
  
"You hush!" She hissed, and rose to a half crouch from her seat.  
  
"Calm down Lou, she can't hear from up there." Kid patted her shoulder and she sat back down, reluctantly.  
  
Buck nodded. "I think she's right. You might wanna talk to her"  
  
Jimmy pushed back his chair along with his empty plate. "I still say she'll run off.  
  
Shouldn't o' untied her," he looked at Rachel. "She'll be gone by first light," he announced. 


	3. 3

K, now all this stuff is just going from memory. After that first part actually. I had to burn the rest of the story after I finished writing it to avoid discovery- dramatic, huh? Okay, enjoy, hope my memory holds out.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Well, she ain't here,"  
  
Rachel announced walking straight into the bunkhouse.  
  
Cody nearly fell out of his bunk on sight of her, which sent Lou into a fit of laughter.  
  
Without so much as changing his position in his bunk, Jimmy answered, "Can't say I didn't say so,"  
  
"Well now, that's a fact," she answered back, still in her nightgown and wrapped up in a robe and shawl against the cool morning air.  
  
"Well," Lou sat up in bed and swung her feet to the floor, "we'd just best get to finding her."  
  
"Says who?" Noah asked. "Seems like if she wants to leave so bad, why are we bothering to get her back here?"  
  
Lou glanced over at Noah. "Cuz Rachel says so," she answered.  
  
"Well," Kid grabbed his hat from the bed post, "that's nough say so for me!" He jumped down from the top bunk, making eye contact with Rachel. Realizing it he turned his head ashamed, "Pardon me, M'am."  
  
She laughed and motioned aside his concern with a wave of her hand. "Ain't nothing Kid, I came in here is all." She walked back to the door, considering her job done. "Well I'll get breakfast for you boys, I trust you to find the girl. I've already checked the house."  
  
Ike came in for breakfast last, leading the girl by the arm.  
  
"Found her over in the stables."  
  
Buck followed after them.  
  
Jimmy looked up from his plate irritated. "So, she's trying to steal out horses now? Rachel I told you to keep her tied!"  
  
"Boy, don't you raise your voice to a lady!" Teaspoon snapped.  
  
Jimmy clamped his mouth shut hard and glared at his plate of food.  
  
"She wasn't trying to steal the horses," Buck answered, taking his seat at the table. "She was just looking at them."  
  
"Is that what she said?"  
  
"No," he answered in a voice that clearly showed his annoyance with Jim, "That's what Ike here said."  
  
Jimmy looked up at Ike and tipped his hat to him in reluctant acknowledgment. "Alright then."  
  
He muttered something unintelligible in annoyance.  
  
"Well, you did bring her here Jimmy, now don't act like you're sorry you done it."  
  
He just shook his head.  
  
Buck and Ike had already sat down to the table, leaving the girl to her own devices. But they watched her, she'd staid in place by Jimmy's seat by the door, and was looking about as angry as a wet cat. She kept staring at him, and the longer she looked at him the madder she became. He, however was completely unaware of her presence, deciding instead to become engrossed in eating.  
  
"Uh, Jimmy," Cody nodded in the girl's direction, "I think she has business with you."  
  
Annoyed Jimmy turned in his chair and looked at her steady on. "What is it?"  
  
The mixed look of boredom and irritation on his face seemed to kindle a spark inside her. Buck and Kid jumped to their feet, and grabbed the girl back just as her fist raised in the air to slam against his face.  
  
His eyes narrowed then and he looked at her in disgust. "If you've got something to say to me, girl, you'd best say it," he muttered his tone scarcely disguising his rage. "And don't act like you can't talk, cuz we both know that ain't true."  
  
She pursed her lips together, her eyes looking daggers at Hickok. She shook Buck and Kid off her furious, and opened her mouth as if ready to spew a mountain load of curses on Hickok, then clamped it shut again as though words couldn't do the feeling justice. She was about to turn around and head upstairs to her room, but Jimmy stopped her cold.  
  
"Like I said, if you have something to say to me, you'd best say it, and quit acting like a mute on matters, keepin' silent ain't gonna do you no good."  
  
"Jimmy," Teaspoon's voice was low and warning.  
  
"Teaspoon, I don't like the idea of walking on egg shells around this girl for any reason, and I don't like her shuttin' up on a matter she ought to be talking about." He turned back to the girl, who was now simply staring at him her mouth having returned to a simply grim line.  
  
"Now, I wanna hear whatever you have to say, but you'd better say it now. I'll be damned if I have to wait around for it."  
  
"Jimmy!" Rachel cried out, shocked and stared at him. He motioned her concern for his language away with his hand.  
  
"Speak up!" He shouted, fully knowing now the only way to get to her was to make her mad, and then he'd get his response. "Or were you really so dumb you honestly were just playing house out on the prairie?"  
  
She opened her mouth, and shut it again. Then opened it, as if unused to speaking.  
  
"I hate you!" She yelled, and her mouth quivered as she said the words. "I hate you!" She repeated, inarticulate in her rage.  
  
"Well at least that's something," Teaspoon saw the direction Jimmy was taking trying to draw the girl out, "why do you hate this boy here?"  
  
"He's stupid!" She yelled, even though she was scarcely a table's length away from them all. "He coulda just let me be, and instead he wants to snatch me up, like I'm some cat that needs saving!"  
  
Lou cocked her head to the side and gave Hickok a look that said, I told you so.  
  
'Well what were you running from then?"  
  
"Nothing! Certainly not from you! You oughtn't to stick your nose where it doesn't belong!"  
  
"That's enough young lady," Teaspoon raised his voice, "you have respect for your elders, that ain't no way for a lady to talk."  
  
"Don't you tell me how I can talk," she snapped. "You ain't my daddy. And for that matter I ain't gotta listen to no one. I live how I please I say what I please, cuz it's the truth. I don't have to shut my mouth just because you don't like what I have to say."  
  
The entire table, from Jimmy to Rachel stared, their mouths agape in an O, waiting for the reaction.  
  
Teaspoon Hunter rose slowly, terribly from the table, suddenly seeming to tower over everything in the room. His eyes were ablaze with fury.  
  
"I reckon from your speak you ain't had no one to tell you what's right and what ain't, but that don't mean you'll behave any way you want around this place, not when there's food being put in your mouth-"  
  
"Teaspoon," Lou's voice was scarcely above a whisper with a hint of urgency in it.  
  
Teaspoon instantly drew in his rage, realizing he might be going about things the wrong way. This does sound like Lou all over, he thought. Best let her handle this, like Rachel was sayin'. "I suppose you've been on your own for a while," he began again, intending to say more and calm her down a bit, but she spun on her heel and headed quickly to the stairs,answering as she went,  
  
"Mister, I've been on my own since I was born."  
  
Her feet sounded quickly up the stairs, and the guest room door shut hard, echoing through the clap board house.  
  
Rachel finished a bite of egg and nodded at Lou, who was already setting her fork down.  
  
"Lou, I think you'd be best at handlin' this."  
  
She nodded, and pushed her chair back, heading towards the stairway.  
  
"Be careful," Jimmy called after her.  
  
Knowing how upset and genuinely hurt Jimmy was, Lou turned around and smiled at him. "I will Jimmy, thanks for the warning. I'll get her to talk for ya."  
  
"An apology wouldn't be bad either."  
  
"Jimmy I can't work miracles," she laughed, "I said I'll get her to talk."  
  
Jimmy's face brightened and allowed a smile then. He nodded, "You do what's best, Lou," he answered.  
  
Lou opened the door, and found, as she'd suspected, the girl putting items back into her satchel.  
  
She looked up when Lou came in and plopped herself down on the narrow bed. She didn't look bothered, in fact she just went back to packing.  
  
Without looking up again or stopping her work, she asked, "How come you dress like a boy?"  
  
Lou was slightly taken aback, but not too much. The boys already said she knew Lou was a girl, it just felt funny being exposed by the girl. It made her worry how transparent her disguise was. "It makes things easier," she answered.  
  
The girl shrugged, clasped shut the satchel and sat down on the bed as well, facing the wall though, not Louise.  
  
"I suppose it might."  
  
Lou turned around on the bed so that she saw the back of the girl's dress and her blonde hair curling down her back.  
  
"What's your name? Can I at least learn that?" She asked, and hoped her voice was curious, friendly, not angry or accusing.  
  
She raised her shoulders in an uncaring bored fashion. "It's Elizabeth. Beth, mostly." "Beth, that's a pretty name."  
  
Her back to Lou, Beth rolled her eyes. "Look, ma'am, I'm not here to cause anyone any trouble, but if that boy down there thinks he was saving me from something, he's mistaken."  
  
"So, where'd you come from?" More specifically she asked, "What are you running away from?"  
  
"I ain't runnin' away from anything," she answered, "I'm goin' to make a life for myself, that ain't runnin' away."  
  
"I reckon not," Lou replied, "but what were you leavin' behind? Why'd you leave your family?"  
  
"Should be grateful they got one less mouth to feed," she sighed and paused, and Lou saw her shoulders slump and her head lower. Beth took a deep breath and added, "They all got the fever, I was tired of being their maid. They never loved me, I was just slave labor. I didn't wanna be that no more. I know what kinda future I'd have if I stayed, they'd marry me off or something worse an' I'd have no choice. Like I wasn't even human. I do wanna have my own life, and being happy matters to me, even if I am a girl, that don't change a thing, doesn't mean I want things any less."  
  
She turned back to Lou tears streaming down her cheeks, but her mouth was determined. "I saw my chance. They were sick, an I wasn't. I got a neighbor to look after em, an' I left. It was my only chance. It's every man, or woman for themselves where I'm from, I wasn't gonna live like that no more."  
  
Lou let out her breath. Her heart went out to the girl. She had guts, but she'd have a hard life ahead of her no matter what, but she didn't want to say that. Beth'd find out soon enough. Being female wasn't easy no matter where you went.  
  
Lou sat back down at the table, where the boys were all gathered, just relaxing. Noah'd gone off on a ride, but everyone else was present.  
  
"Her folks all got the fever," Lou announced to the group, "and she took the opportunity to leave."  
  
Kid backed up in his chair.  
  
"She got it?"  
  
Lou rolled her eyes. "Kid, if she had it, you'd know. If she ain't got it now, she ain't gonna get it. One o' the lucky ones, I'd say."  
  
Ike nodded solemnly.  
  
"Pretty heartless of her to just leave her family, just when they needed her," Teaspoon commented, his teeth working around a toothpick.  
  
Lou shook her head. "She's a smart girl, name's Beth by the way," she added, "they weren't the loving type of parents, if you know what I mean, seems like she was just seen as a burden to 'em. She had to leave."  
  
"Well at least we know who she is an' why she was out on her own," Teaspoon nodded at Jimmy, "question still remains, what do we do with her?"  
  
Jimmy raised his head. "What you lookin' at me for?"  
  
Teaspoon tipped his head to him. "You brought her in here, she's yer responsibility."  
  
His jaw dropped open and Hickock stared at Teaspoon. "You're kiddin' right?" He glanced at Noah. "He's kiddin', ain't he?"  
  
Noah slowly shook his head. "Don't look to me like his is foolin', and that's a fact."  
  
Lou smiled at him. "Looks like you got a pet to look after after all, Hickok."  
  
"What I got," he stood up from the table, "is work that needs doin'." He nodded at Rachel, then headed out the door on his way to the stables. 


End file.
